Roger Long wrote:
I was watching skydiving operations for the first time this week. The first
three jumpers climbed into the 182 and it rocked back on the tail tiedown
ring. The next two got in and it came down on the nose gear, barely. There
appeared to be an attachment to the tie down ring to turn it into a tail
skid. Or maybe to keep prematurely opening chute's from snagging?

As the plane taxied out, it was rocking back and forth on the mains and it
appeared that the only thing keeping the nose gear in solid contact with the
ground was the thrust and the drag of the wheels in the grass. Takeoff
appeared normal although climb was pretty anemic.

Is this kind of loading and far aft CG typical?

I have jumped a few times from a 182. We've never had the tail
actually touch the ground on loading but the aircraft does tend to
wallow a little when people are moving around inside on the ground.
Aircraft are designed such that about 10% of the weight is on the nose
wheel and the rest on the mains. You want at least this for steering
and preventing overbalance but too much weight makes for large tail
forces (and associated drag) to achieve roatation.

The tail skid attachment is exactly that, a bumper for the tie down
for those over anxious jump pilots.

Inside the aircraft the jumpers will position themselves as far
forward as possible. A 182 can hold a pilot and 4 jumpers (the wide
body varient with extended wingtips - 182N or super skylane?? - can
hold 5 jumpers). With skydving gear weighing in at ~25lbs per jumper
and one extra pax the jump pilot needs to be fairly careful with the
fuel load. Generally jumpships carry enough fuel for 2 to 3 cycles
plus reserve. Cycle time for a 182 to 10k is about 15 minutes up and
about 3.5 minutes back down (shock cooling is a real issue here).

Typical seating arrangement (seats removed) is as follows for take off:
Jumper #1 beside the pilot kneeling facing forward
Jumper #2 (jumpmaster) kneeling behind Jumper #1 facing forward
Jumper #4 sitting behind the pilot, back and rig against the back of
the seat
Jumper #3 behind Jumper#4 kneeling between his legs facing forward.

On takeoff everyone leans as far forward as possible to get the
heavest parts of the body, the torso with rig, towards the front.
Jumper #1 needs to watch the right hand control column and
throttle,mixture etc. Jump pilot needs to watch Jumper #1 to make sure
that he doesn't try to use any of the above as a hand hold.

At about 1,000' the jumpers reposition for the climb. Jumper #1 now
sits facing forward with his back and rig to Jumper #2 who faces the
rear. Jumper #4 remains in position while jumper #3 now sits in
betweens his knees facing to the rear. Everyone kneels facing forward
on the jumprun. There are major trim changes involved as the jumpers
shift position and as they depart the aircraft. Now at altitude and
slow on the jumprun a stall is the worst possible senario. This is all
part of the skill of paradrop operations.